Spacing mechanism



T. K. WALMA SPACING MECHANISM Feb. 27, 1940.

Original Filed Oct. 26. 1936 I 7- A? WALMA INVENTOR.

ATETORNEY objects and maintainingthespacing thereof unis ers. 23 1940UNITED, STATES.

"PATENT: oFFIca sracmo MECHANISM i I -Theodore K. Walma, lowa City,Iowa. Original No. 2,098,816.- dated'November 9, 1937,

Serial No. 107,664. October 26, 1936. Application for reissue'June 17,1939, Serial No. 279,891

e a I My present invention relates to mechanism for simultaneouslymoving a plurality 01" objects, at

" a the same time maintaining -a uniform "spacing form during the changeto provide an improved apparatus by' means of which the spacing of anentire group of objects may be varied or the spacing of a portionthereof'may be left constant while the spacing oi the remainder ofthegroup is changed; to provid'e'an apparatus-oi the character indicatedwhich is light in weight and easily 3 fabricatedjand such furtherobjects, advantages,

and; capabilities as will hereafter. appear andas are inherent in theconstruction disclosed herein. My-invention' further resides in thecombition, construction, and arrangement of parts 11- lustrated in theaccompanying drawing. and. while I have shown thereinwhat isnow regardedas the preferred embodiment and some modiflca-- tions thereof, I desirethe same to beunderstood as illustrative only and not to be interpretedin 4 a limiting sense. v Inthe drawing annexed hereto and, forming apart hereof, f v

' Fig. 1 represents a front elevationof'a structure embodying myinvention; i "Fig. 2 represents atransverse section taken-approximatelyalongthe plane indicated-by the line,

w 2 2, Fig.1; I Fig. 3 represents an endfelevation of a structure takenin the direction of the arrows 3-3,

Fig.1j v Fig. 4 represents a longitudinal sectional ele-' vatlon'oi afragmentary part of this construcmade in greater detail 12 claims. (01.14s 15a) the annexed drawing for a more complete disclosure of thisinvention. In this drawing, and supporting members are shown at ,l and acentral supporting member at 2. Inthe form of construction shown inFigs. '1 to 3 and 5, these sup- 5 -.porting members are connected by twoor more bars 3 and 3a. The bars 3 are secured in place by means of.screws 4 while the bar 311 isreceived in notches in the supportingmembers I; and 2.

Since the support 2 of Fig. 5 differs somewhat in 10 -iorm from thecorresponding element of the other figures; it is designated by thenumeral 20'. A ,rod or bar 5 of non-circular cross-section is .supported,in one of the end supports I, as shown v r in Fig. 1, and has supportedthereon a plurality ll of. blocks 6 provided with any suitable attachingmeans for the connection of objects to be moved. In the presentinstance, hooks -'l are shown for the attachment of slicing-blades 8. Ofcourse each manufacturer of slicing machines has his m own method ofattaching his blades to the blade supporting frame and he will,consequently, adopt whatever form of attaching means seems to him best.I have shown merely one form of attaching means in order to illustratean operative con-" 35 struction. In a bread slicing machine, each ofthe'blocks 6 will have a suitable blade attachingmeans'l; Q

The. central block 6a is shown as provided with I an opening for thereception of a' set screw B 30 which prevents the block from movingrelatively to itssupporting frame. This block, like the blocks lijisprovided with notches or grooves in its peripheral surface for thereception of an edge portion or each of the bars andta'. These bars; 35

therefore, prevent the rotation of the blocks with r the shaft, rod, orbar 5. but permit them to move longitudinally thereof. This longitudinalmovement is caused by externally screw-threaded sleeves l0, centrallyapertured, with openings 40 which fit closely the rod or bar 5. Thesesleeves 10 'areprovided at their opposite ends with right and left handthreading and the blocks 6 and 8a are correspondingly threaded so thatthe sleeves can be screwed into and out of the blocks 4 to cause them toapproach or separate from each other. Preferably; shallow grooves .IIare pro vided' midway of the. length of the sleeves ll to separate thethreading at'the opposite ends of the sleeves. Similarly, grooves II areprovided midway-10f the length of the blocksli to separate -'theopposite threading in the blocks.

Any suitable operating means, suchas a crank It or a hand wheel,may beattached to the end of the rod or bar 5 by means or which it may berotated, From the foregoing it will be seen that,

when the actuating means I! is turned in one direction, the sleeves IIIwill be screwed out of theadjacent blocks and, when turned in theopposite direction, will be screwed into such blocks.

Suitable stop means, as, I, is provided for limit- I ing the lengthwisemovement of the blocks 6. This is for the purpose of preventing sleevesl0 and blocks 6 from becoming entirely separated.

during adjustment of the mechanism Furthermore, the stop ll may be,omlttedj'entirely, its function being served by an end frame member Iso placed that longitudinal movement of the blocks 6 is arrested beforeseparation occurs between these blocks and the sleeves I li.'

It may be desirable,-in the slicing of bread and possibly for otherpurposes, to have, different spacings of the blocks .6 and themeansconnected to and actuated thereby, in the present instance shown ascutting blades. This can be accompllshed byadjusting a section of theblock 8 at the left hand end of the structure shown in Fig. 1

to the desired spacing and then withdrawing the rod} from as many of thesleeves l0 as necessary in order to leave the desired number of blocksat the left hand end undisturbed. The crank I3 can then be turnedtoadjust the remaining blocks to the desired spacing. Close spacing may behad at either end and wide spacing at the other so or any other desiredarrangement of spacing may be attained by proper manipulation.

Fig. 6 is intended to represent a construction in which the blocks 6 and6a rest in a trough formed in a member [5. This takes the place of thetwo 36 lower guide strips 3 and 3a of Fig.2, making it possible to getalong with a single guide strip 3,

shown at the top of Fig. 6. The guide notches of the blocks 6 areindicated by the numeral Ii at the top of Fig. 4. It will be appreciatedthat when thls"construction is used in a slicing machine, suchas abread'siicer, it will be necessary to have one of these structures atthe upper end and one at the lower end of each set of blades.

' The one atthe lower end will preferably be sub stantially the same asthe one at the'upper end but inverted. The trough arrangement of Fig. 6

is not desirable for a; bread slicing machine for Y the reason thatcrumbs will collect in the trough and causeclogging of the mechanism Forthis reasonf the structures of Figs. 1,- 2, 3, and 5 are 5 preferablefor use in bread slicing machines, since there is verylittle surface.upon which crumbs may collect.

When this construction is used as a means for adjustingbread slicingmachine blades, it will be necessary to simultaneously adjust bothendsofthe blades and this will be accomplished by 1 suitable connectionsbetween the" upper and lower bars 5. Such connections are already knownin the art. However, I have ,illustrated in Fig. 7.

. a mechanism by means of which this adJustrnent may be 'eflected.Thiscomprises I a series of sprocket wheels in unted onthe ends of therods i or. bars 5 and ha ng a sprocket chain passed thereove'r'andconnecting the wheels. 'Ihus it will be seen that when the actuatingmeans I! is turned all four shafts will berotated at the. same I speedand the blades will be simultaneously' ad-' Justed at the same rate. IIt will of course be understood that the specific descriptionof'structure set forthabove'rnay be departed from without departing fromthespirit of this invention as set forth in this specification and theappendedclaims,

Having now described my invention, I claim:

15 1. A mechanical movement comprising supporting means, a straight rodof non-circular cross-section supported thereby, sleeves surroundingsaid rod and slidable longitudinally thereof, said sleeves having theirinternal surfaces .conforming substantially to the rodand fitting the 5same closely but suihclently loosely to be freely slidable thereon, theexternal surfaces of the sleeves .being threaded in opposite directionsfrom' opposite ends, longitudinally apertured blocks having theirapertures threaded in oppo- 0 site directions from opposite ends, thethreads of the blocks cooperating with the threads of the sleeves tocause motion of both longitudinally of the rod when the latter isrotated, and guiding means for the blocks to support them and prevent 15their rotation around the rod. v

2. A structure as defined by claim 1 in which a block locatedapproximately midway of the rod is held stationary whereby to cause theblocks upon opposite sides of the stationary block to a.

move simultaneously in'opposite directions.

3. A structure as defined by claim 1 in which the rod is partly orwholly removable from the sleeves and may be rotated when partly removedto adjust the spacing of part of the blocks.

4. Blade .holding and adjusting meansfor a slicing machine comprising abar'of non-circular cross-section and a support therefor, movablesupporting blocks provided with blade-holding means. and surroundingsaid bar, right and left a hand screw-threadedmeainsoperativelyconnecting saidblock's to each other and to the bar, said screw-threadedmeans having substantially axial openings fitting closely said bar, and,upon rotation of the bar, causing the blocks to approach toward orrecede from each other so asto main- ,tain an equal spacing of theblocks and of the blades carried thereby. I

5. A. structure as defined by. claim 4 in which the blocks'have groovesin their peripheral sur- I faces, extending longitudinally thereof, incombinatlon with a bar carried by the support and extending through thegrooves to keep theblocks from rotating with relation to each other.

. 6. A structure as defined by claim 4 in which the blocks haveattaching means projecting from a one side thereof, said structurebeing-provided with means for preventing rotation of the blocks.

- 7, A slicing machine blade holding and'adjusting mechanism comprisinga supporting framework, a. bar extending longitudinally thereof, aseries of blade-holding blocks supported by said bar,- sjaid blockshaving means to ,which blades may be attached, guiding means connectedwith said blocks for preventing rotation thereof, and wright and lefthand screw-threaded means connecting said blocks to each other and tosaid bar, said screw threaded means being rotatable with the bar tocause the ,blocks to approach-or recede from each other.

8. Astr ucture as defined by claim 7 in which in the guiding meanscomprises a pair of bars supported. upon opposite sides of the blocksand which extend longitudinally thereof through notches cut in theexterior longitudinal surfaces? of the blocks.-

9. a structure as defined by claim 7 in which the guiding meanscomprises a plurality of bars extending in a. direction substantiallyparallel to the first mentioned bar, the blocks having longitudinalnotches in their peripheralsurfaces for the reception of the pluralityof bars, the bars fitting in said notches and the blocks being slidablealong the bars.

10. A structure as defined by claim 7 in which the supporting frameworkcomprises, in part, a

-wherebytodrawthe member, against the we surlace oi which the blocks areheld.

11. In a mechanical movement,

thereby and movable therealong, screw-threaded means to actuate theblocks longitudinally of the framework, said screw-threaded meanscomsections of right and left hand threading, said blocks beinginternally "screwthreaded to cooperate with the right and left hand.threading of the screw-threaded means blocks toward each other or causethem to separate, depending upon the direction of rotation of thescrew-thread means, and means for rotating the screw-threaded means tocause the blocks v 12. A- slicing machine blademechanmarrameworhabarncn-circuiar variations in the spacing of at leastone of each in cross-section extending longitudinally thereof,

v aseries of blade guiding blocks supported by'saidv I a supporting bar,said framework, a series of movable blocks supported guiding slicingblades,

blocks having means for receiving and guiding means cooperating withsaid blocks to prevent-rotation thereof, and a plurality oiscrew-threaded means, freely iongitudinally sildable on said bar, andinterengaging with said bar whereby'said screw-threaded means areconstrained to rotate with said bar, at least one of said screw-threadedmeans bein interposed between each adjacent pair of blocks,

in screw-threaded eent with the screwthreaded means interposedthereh'etween, said screw-threaded means cooperating with said blocksupon rotation of the bar in one direction to cause all adjacent blocksof said'series to recede,

from each other. i

we; a.

adjacent pair of blocks bein

